Action Alert from the National Anti-Vivisection Society

— Each week the National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) sends out an e-mail alert called Take Action Thursday, which tells subscribers about current actions they can take to help animals. NAVS is a national, not-for-profit educational organization incorporated in the State of Illinois. NAVS promotes greater compassion, respect, and justice for animals through educational programs based on respected ethical and scientific theory and supported by extensive documentation of the cruelty and waste of vivisection. You can register to receive these action alerts and more at the NAVS Web site.

Since most state legislatures have ended their sessions for the current year, this week’s Take Action Thursday celebrates legislative victories you’ve helped make happen.

State Legislation

As the calendar year nears its end, a majority of state legislatures have adjourned and most of the bills introduced this year (or in states with a two-year session in 2013 and 2014) have died in committee. A number of these bills were featured in past issues of Take Action Thursday, but the good news is that some of the bills did become law!

NAVS strives to advance the principles of justice and compassion for animals through our educational programs, including Take Action Thursday. Please help ensure the effectiveness of advocacy on behalf of animals by contacting your elected officials. Take a minute to thank your state legislators who give their support to bills that further the welfare and well-being of non-human animals.

Success for Animals

Connecticut:HB 5044 This Act, which passed in response to a court decision, clarifies that horses are not inherently vicious. It explicitly prohibits courts from applying the legal strict liability standard to the owner or caretaker for injuries caused by one of these animals.

Illinois:HB 4410 This Act will increase fines against violators of the state Animal Welfare Act and is intended to target the inhumane treatment of dogs raised in puppy mills.

Maryland:HB 73/SB 247 This law will undo a 2012 state court ruling that pit bulls are inherently dangerous and that owners should be held strictly liable for injuries caused by their dogs. This law holds the owners of all dog breeds liable for harm done when the dogs are “running at large,” and creates a rebuttable presumption that owners knew of any vicious or dangerous propensities of their dogs.

Minnesota:HF 3172/SF 2068 This Act was the first state law requiring taxpayer-funded research facilities to place healthy dogs and cats up for adoption with registered non-profit animal rescue groups when they are no longer needed for research.

New Hampshire:HB 1568 This Act will make it a crime to impersonate a disabled person in order to obtain a service animal.

Rhode Island:H 7496 This Act makes it unlawful to confine an animal in a motor vehicle in a manner that places the animal’s health or life in danger, including confinement in extreme weather conditions.

South Dakota:SB 46 This law makes South Dakota the 49th state to create a felony penalty for the cruel treatment of animals and for cockfighting, leaving only North Dakota without a felony animal cruelty provision.

Virginia:HB 972 This Act will allow courts to give custody of a jointly owned companion animal to a petitioner who is seeking a protective order in a domestic abuse case.

Setbacks for Animals

Idaho:SB 1337 This Act criminalizes the act of gaining employment solely for the purpose of documenting animal abuse, and does not allow for reporting any animal abuse whatsoever committed by agricultural operations. This Act will also make it extremely difficult for whistleblowers within an animal facility to report on animal abuses, as it requires a court or a state agency to approve any investigation prior to recording the abuses. A lawsuit has been filed challenging the constitutionality of this law.

Louisiana:SB 250 This law exempts certain persons, including the owner of Tony the Truck Stop Tiger, from a prohibition on the private ownership of big exotic cats.

Tennessee:HB 2258 This law makes it a criminal offense to interfere with the operation of an animal facility. However, unlike most ag-gag bills, this law does not explicitly state that video recording and photography “interfere with the operation of an agricultural facility,” so discreet undercover investigations of animal facilities using cameras may be permissible.

If you would like to see laws passed that better protect animals in your state, please consider giving a Model Law from the Animal Law Resource Center to your state legislator for introduction in your state in the coming year.

While most state legislatures are no longer in session, the U.S. Congress is still considering a number of important bills. If you haven’t already taken action, please go the NAVS Advocacy Center to send letters to your U.S. Representative and Senators.